4th Quarter 2013 Corporate Profits

Thursday’s GDP release (Q4, 2nd Estimate) was accompanied by the BLS Corporate Profits report for the 4th Quarter. Of course, there are many ways to adjust and depict overall Corporate Profits.  For reference purposes, here is a chart from the St. Louis Federal Reserve (FRED) showing the Corporate Profits After Tax (last updated March 27, 2014, with …

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March 2014 Duke/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey – Notable Excerpts

On March 12, 2014 the March Duke/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey (pdf) was released.  It contains a variety of statistics regarding how CFOs view business and economic conditions. In this CFO Survey, I found the following to be the most notable excerpts: Increasing the minimum wage nationwide to $10 per hour would lead to substantial job losses among …

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CEO Confidence Surveys 4Q 2013 – Notable Excerpts

On January 8, 2014, The Conference Board and PwC released the 4th Quarter Measure Of CEO Confidence.   The overall measure of CEO Confidence was at 60, up from 54 in the third quarter. [note:  a reading of more than 50 points reflects more positive than negative responses] Notable excerpts from this January 8 Press Release include: …

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December 2013 Duke/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey – Notable Excerpts

On December 11 the December Duke/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey (pdf) was released.  It contains a variety of statistics regarding how CFOs view business and economic conditions. In this CFO Survey, I found the following to be the most notable excerpts: Nearly half of U.S. companies are reluctant to hire full-time employees because of the ACA. One in …

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Deloitte “CFO Signals” Report 4Q 2013 – Notable Aspects

Recently Deloitte released their “CFO Signals” “High-Level Summary” report for the 4th Quarter of 2013. As seen in page 2 of the report, “Ninety-six CFOs responded during the two-week period ending November 22. Sixty-eight percent of the respondents are from public companies, and 79% are from companies with more than $1B in annual revenue.” Here are some …

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Corporate Profits As A Percentage Of GDP

In the last post (“3rd Quarter Corporate Profits“) I displayed, for reference purposes, a long-term chart depicting Corporate Profits After Tax. There are many ways to view this measure, both on an absolute as well as relative basis. One relative measure is viewing Corporate Profits as a Percentage of GDP.  I feel that this metric is …

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3rd Quarter Corporate Profits

Today’s GDP release (Q3, 2nd Estimate) was accompanied by the BLS Corporate Profits (preliminary estimate) report for the 3rd Quarter. Of course, there are many ways to adjust and depict overall Corporate Profits.  For reference purposes, here is a chart from the St. Louis Federal Reserve (FRED) showing the Corporate Profits After Tax (last updated December 5,2013, …

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The Future Direction Of Corporate Earnings

John Hussman, in his September 23 Weekly Market Comment, states the following: Again, the difficulty with valuing stocks on the basis of raw price/earnings ratios is that corporate profits as a share of GDP are presently over 70% above their long-term historical norm. Though the actual course of corporate profits will be affected by numerous …

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CEO Confidence Surveys 3Q 2013 – Notable Excerpts

Today (October 9, 2013), The Conference Board and PwC released the 3rd Quarter Measure Of CEO Confidence.   The overall measure of CEO Confidence was at 54, down from 62 in the second quarter. [note:  a reading of more than 50 points reflects more positive than negative responses] Notable excerpts from this October 9 Press Release …

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September 2013 Duke/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey – Notable Excerpts

On September 10 the September Duke/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey (pdf) was released.  It contains a variety of statistics regarding how CFOs view business and economic conditions. In this CFO Survey, I found the following to be the most notable excerpts: In the next year, earnings are expected to increase by about 13 percent among public U.S. …

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